Diebold scores an own goal over hackable voting machines

Diebold, the manufacturers of an e-voting machine that is due to be used across the US in the mid-term elections, scored an own goal yesterday when it demanded that HBO pull a documentary that effectively slagged off the machines insecure and hackable.

Diebold Election Systems claimed that the programme - which was broadcast last night - was inaccurate.

A letter sent to HBO from Diebold's president David Byrd said the film "contains significant factual errors and does not meet HBO standards for accuracy and fairness."

The errors were "so egregious" that HBO should pull the documentary, said Diebold, adding that HBO should show a 30-second disclaimer before and after the program.

HBO rebutted Diebold's comments, and recruited David Dill, a professor of computer science at Stanford University, to explained that programs used in electronic voting machines were vulnerable because access to the software was not restricted.

As you might expect, all this dancing around the security maypole ended up with HBO reporting far higher viewing figures for the documentary than it was expecting.